Hermione's Horses
by tornbetween
Summary: (one shot)In OoTP, Hermione is less than thrilled when Firenze is appt. to take the place of Trelawnys div. class. One night in the commonroom, Ron finds out what happened to make her feel that way. What else may happen as a result? better than it sounds!


AN: This is a sort of long one shot. Very R/Hr.. not to fluffy.. Takes place in the Gryfindor common room, a few days after Trelawney got sacked by umbridge. As all of you know who has read OoTP, Dumbledore replaced her with Firenze, a centaur from the Forbidden Forest. What does this all have to do with horses you may ask? Well... read and you'll see!!! (( and incase your wondering Hermione really does say the stuff Ron said she did.. turn to pg 599 in the american hard back copy to see what im talking about.))

Disclaimer: the usual disclaimer applies.

Why Hermione Doesn't like Horses.

Hermione sat in her favorite spot on the sofa infront of the fire. With a content sigh she opened her favorite book Hogwarts, A History for what seemed like the gazillionth time. But she seemed to enjoy it more and more each time. It was, afterall, her favorite book. She was rather comfortable there, as the couch was quite worn from her and Ron sitting in the same spots for almost five years. It was always the same. Her and Ron would take the couch, and Harry would take the arm chair to the left of Ron.

But unusually enough, tonight, Hermione was alone. Well not literally alone, as there were quite a few students milling around the common room. Most of them seemed to have some sense and were trying to prepare themselves for the upcomming O.W.L.S, which were steadily drawing nearer and nearer.

She frowned. "Which is exactly what Harry and Ron should be doing."

Hermione felt her side of the couch rise up a few centimeters as Ron plopped down beside her.

"What should Harry and me be doing, Mione?"

Hermione did not look up from her book. "Studying. And it's Harry and _I_, Ron." She turned to the next page. "And stop with that ridiculous nickname. You know I hate it." she said placidly.

Ron gave a knowing chuckle.

"You know I do." she stated in a mmatter of fact tone of voice.

"Well, how do _you _know what I know or not? I know your a genious but I didn't know your talents included mind reading."

Hermione gave him a playful punch on the arm. "You think I'm a genious now do you?"

Ron gave her a mockingly thoughful look and said, "Well... maybe not a _genious _but..."

Hermione looked up to see what Harry thought of all this, and to her surprise, he wasnt there.

"Ron, where's Harry?

"Oh, he went up to the dorms. Said he was tired. I suppose he is. Come to think of it," Ron gave an obnoxious yawn. "I am too. sneaking down to the kitchens is hard work you know."

"Oh is that were you were." Hermione snorted. "And here I was thinking you lot might _actually _be doing something useful."

"Useful? Like what?

"Like studying perhaps. Contrairy to your popular belief, in order to get a passing grade on the O.W.L.S you _do _actually have to crack open a book. You know-"

"Here have a chocolate frog."

Hermione found herself unable to continue because she seemed to have a frog jammed into her mouth. She was _going _to give Ron a long lecture about the Rudeness of jamming Choclate animals down another's throat, but she found that tonight, she would much rather eat the choclate and read her book.

Ron busied himself devouring the treats he and Harry had nicked from the kitchens, and Hermione continued reading her book.

Little by little, the steady murmer of students died down to a faint wisper, and soon enough, Hermione and Ron were the only ones left. Ron had long since stopped chomping on his food, so Hermione had figured he had gone to sleep.

It was past one a.m.; Hermione was still enthralled by her book and Ron was still asleep beside her... or so she thought.

"Hermione...?"

Hermione had been so sure that Ron was asleep that when called her name she had nearly jumped 3 feet in the air.

"Ron? Your awake? I thought you had falled asleep ages ago!"

It took a few seconds for him to respond. "...Nope. Just....thinking."

"Ron...? _Thinking_...? I guess there's a first for everything."

Hermione had been joking and when Ron didn't laugh, she put her book aside and turned to him. "What's on your mind Ron?

Ron continued to stare at the crackling fire. "Well... I was just thinking...."

Hermione was now extremely curious. "About what?"

Ron ran his fingers through his hair unconciously. "...Hermione... Why don't you like horses?"

That was definatley not what she was expecting to come out of Ron's mouth. She spoke softly. "What do you mean?"

"Today. At breakfast. Remember?" Ron was speaking unusually slow. "Parvati asked you if you wished you hadn't quit divination now that we had a centaur taking over Professor Trelawny's class. And then you said that you never really liked them, horses I mean. Why is that?'

Hermione didnt answer right away. Frankly, she was quite surprised that Ron had even been listening to her, let alone well enough to remember her exact wording.

"Well..."

Hermione had never really took the time to think about it. Afterall, this wasn't the sort of question one is usually asked.

"Do you really want to know?"

Ron shook his head yes in reply.

"I really can't imagine why.. but all right.. She squirmed in her spot to get more comfortbale. Her hand brushed Ron's arm and she felt her face grow warm. Things like that have been happening alot lately. "I suppose it wasnt always like this."

"Actually," Hermione sighed. "I _know _it wasn't always like this. When I was little, sometimes my parents would take me to visit my Aunt Placinda. She had this huge property, it was sort of like a ranch. During the day, I would go out and explore the grounds. There were all sorts of things there. Trees with hollows large enough you could sit in them, babbling streams with wather so clear you could see the tiny fish swimming about in it. It was quite the enjoyable place." Now Hermione was staring into the hypnotizing fire. "One day when I had gone further than I usually did, I came across a herd of horses, _wild _ones mind you. I didn't move in too close, so not to scare them away. But I sat there and I watched them. I sat there the whole day Ron, and I didn't even notice it begining to go dark. That's how entrancing they were. They were so beautiful...and wild.. and free. It was almost _scary_...

"I came back there everyday, you know. Trying to get closer to them. They were so...intelligent. And independent..." Hermione smiled fondly. "Oh Ron I really wanted to be near them. Their beauty and free sprit just...._attracted _me. I would try to get closer to them, I really would. But I was just..." Hermione paused as if unsure if she should continue. "I was just... oh i might as well say it. I was scared! Alright? I was afraid of them. Afraid of their intelligence, afraid of thier beauty. But most of all... I was afraid because I had never felt that way about anyone, or any_thing_ for that matter, before."

Hermione let out a mournful sigh. "But you know what the worst part was? They were so intellegent, you know. So _aware_. If they were frightened of me, I know they wouldnt have let me get as close as they did. Who knows. Maybe they even liked me. They might have let me get near enough to touch one if I had tried. But I was afraid...so I didnt." She shook her head sadly. "I didn't even.. try."

"So eventually it was time for my parents and I to say goodbye. The night before we were supposed to leave, I snuck out of the house, just for one last look, you know? But that wasn't all. I had decided that that was the night when I was finally going to face my stupid fears and try to touch a horse. I just wanted to stroke his silky mane. They were so beautiful. I had spent that whole long walk their building up my nerve.. no way was I going to back down this time. It was my last chance. And when I finally reached their spot....they were gone. Just like that. No more wild horses. I had missed my chance. Being the little girl that I was, I had nothing else to do but to cry. And so I did. I sat there, cross legged on the ground and I cried till my throat got sore. At first I cried because I was sad that the horses had left me. But after awhile, I began to get angry. At first I was mad at my self. Afterall, if I hadn't had been so afraid to just try, I might have had my chance with them before they left. Who knows, they might have not left! But soon my anger switched it's target from myself to them. How could they do that to me.. how could they just leave? If they hadn't been so beautiful, maybe I could have done it. So on so forth. And so after many more hours of crying, I left that night. And the next morning, my family packed up and drove home. Life went on as usual. But I never forgot." Hermione shook her head again. "No, I never forgot what they did to me."

"I know that it all sounds very childish and stupid," Hermione let out a hollow laugh, still staring into the fire. "But you asked...so I told you. But I suppose that's why I don't like horses. I don't really expect you to understand, not because you're not capable," she quickly added. "But because it was all very silly and pointless... but do you?" she asked tentively. "Do you understand?"

For some reason, Hermione felt that it was imparitive that Ron understood her. When he did not answer after a few moments, she figured he must have fallen asleep. She didn't blame him. It was quite a long story and probably very boring.

She readied herself to get up and head to the dorms for the night, as she felt much better after finally getting that off of her chest. Before she stood up, she turned to Ron to wake him up. But to Hermione's surpise, he was not asleep.

He was looking straight into her eyes. His face only inches from hers.

"Hermione.."

She meant for her voice to be louder than it was, yet it came out as a faint wisper.

"...Yes?"

Their faces moved closer and closer until Hermione could fill the warmth of Ron's breath on her lips.

"I understand...exactly what you mean."

Hermione closed her eyes in bliss. As the kiss deepened, Ron knew that her wish had came true. Hermione finally had her horses.


End file.
